Railway-car underframe.



MMLEQQQD C. T. WESTLAKE & C. F. FREDE. RAILWAY CAR UNDERFRAME.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 17, I913.

Patentd July 13, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1- C. T. WESTLAKE & C. F. FREDE.

RAILWAY CAR UNDERFRAME. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 11. 1913.

Patented July 13, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- /1. 4 'llllllvlilllilllf TED STATES PAT T FF1QE-CHARLES T. WESTLAKE AND ormnizns F. FREDE, 0]! saw. some, MISSOURI,AssIeNons T0 COMMONWEALTH STEEL COMPANY, 0E s'r. LOU S, MISSOURI, Aoonrona'rron' on NEW JERSEY.

RAILWAY-CAR UNDERFRAME.

a Y if 11,}.465320. Specification of. Letters Patent. Patent ed July 13,1915 Application filed October 17,1913. SeriaINo. 795,701.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLES T. WESTLAKE and CHARLES F. FREoE, citizensof the United States, residing at the city of St. Lou s,

State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful ImprovementRailway- Car Underframes, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art towhich it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanymg drawings, forming part of this specification, in which-Figure 1 is a cross sectional view of a car underframe' of our improvedconstruction, said section being taken adjacent to the body bolster.Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertlcal section taken approximately on the line2*2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the end :9 portion of ourimproved underframe. Fig.

i is a horizontal section taken approx mately on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2.Fig. 5 1s a cross sectional view taken on the line 5- 5 of Fig. 4.

improvements in underframes for railway cars, the-principal objectof ourinvention 1 being to combine with the Sills of an underframe, aseparable body bolster and a draft gear pocket. 0 c

A. further object of our invention s to rovide a comparatively simple,strong and.

rigid car underframe construction which can be readily assembled, or inthe case of repairs can be easily taken apart.

To the above purposes, our inventionconsists in certain novel featuresof construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fullydescribed and claimed.

In the construction of the underframe as shown, we employ a center sillcomposed of a vertically disposed web plate .10, a pair of top angles11, and a pair of bottom angles 12. Thus a built-up center sill ofI-beam shape in cross section is provided, but if desired, a single onepiece I-beam can be utilized as the center sill.

Formed in the web 10 at the end of the sill is a longitudinally disposedslot 13, and that portion of the center sill above this slot projects asubstantial distance beyond the portion below said slot. The bodybolster 1t forming a part of our improved underframe is preferably castin a single piece, substantially of I-beam shape in cross sec- Thisinvention relates to new and useful tion, and provided at its centerwith a vertically disposed opening 15 which receives the lower portionof the center sill or that pore tion below the slot 13. When the bolsteris properly assembled with the center sill, the

top flange of said bolster occupies the inner end of the slot 13 so thatthe parts of the center sill above and below said slot project asubstantial distance beyond said bolster.

The underside of the central portion of the bolster is recessed, asdesignated by 16, in order to accommodate the horizontal flanges at thebottom of the center sill, and formed near the endsof this recessedportion and projecting downwardly, are transverse lugs 17. Positionedagainst the underside ofthe integral with the underSide of the bolstermember comprises a plate 18, with the un derside of which is formedintegral a center bearing 19, and formed integral with the top of saidplate near its ends are transverse ribs or lugs 20, which, when theplate lugs 17.. This arrangement vprovides an effective tie beneath theopening 15 in the center of the bolster and forms an'interlockingconnection between the ends of the pla-te 18 and the lower portions ofthe bolster to the sides of said opening 15, thereby resisting anytendency of the bolster to break' or fracture above said opening 15 whenthe ends of the bolster are jacked upto permit repairs or the removal ofa truck.

The ends of the plate 18 bear directly against the shoulders at theouter ends of the recess 16, and by such arrangement the removable plateperforms the function of a compression member to resist abnormal loadstrains imposed upon the outer end portions of the bolster. Theremovable plate 18 is attached to the bolster by means of bolts or 80 isapplied to the bolster, engage the ribsor *tiiieiii; as seen dispesefilongituai nally extending webs or flanges 24, and passing therethroughand through the vertical web of the center sill are rivets or likefastening devices. Formed integral with the body bolster are sidebearing members 25, and formed integral with the ends of said bolsterare horizontally disposed perforated V ends of jacks used in liftingcars.

Fixed in any suitable manner to the ends of theb'ody bolster are sidesills 27 which maybe of any desired cross sectional shape, and fixed tothe ends of these side sills and to the outer end of the upper portionof the center sill which projects-beyond the slot 13 is an endsill 28. Adraft gear pocket between the end sill of the unde'rframe and the bodybolster is formed by a pair of vertically disposed plates 29, the outerortions of which are spaced apart a suficient distance to accommodate anordinary type of draft gear, and the outer portions of these plates areslotted to receive keys or provided with lugs to serve as bearings forparts of the contained draft. gear. llhe upper portions of these platesare bent inwardly, as designated by 30, and the inner .ends of saidinwardly bent portions are fixed in any suitable manner, preferably bymeans of rivets, to that portion of the center sill abovethe slot 13 andwhich projects to the end sill 28. The inner or rear ends of the plates29 overlie and close that portion of the slot which is in front of thebody bolster, and said rear ends are fixed to the web of the center sillby rivets or in any suitable manner. The forward ends of the plates 29are preferably secured to the end sill 28, and

thus said plates in addition to forming a draft gear pocket, perform thefunction of draft sills and also form center sill extensions between-thebody bolster and end sill. By slotting the center sill to accommodate apart of the body bolster and making a part of said body bolsterseparable, said bolster can be very easily and quickly combined with thecenter sill when the car underframe is assembled, or in a case ofrepairs or re- I incense forming the draft gear pocket are attached:

directly to the end portion of the center silland to the vend sill ofthe underframe, thusproducing a stronger and much more rigid? structurethan where the center sill terminates at or near the body bolster, andis connected to the end sill by means of separate draft sill members.The se arable plate 18 performs the functions 0 both a tension memberand a compression member, depending upon the loads and stresses impartedto the bolster.

It will be readily understood that minor changes in the size, form andarrangement of the various parts of our improved under frame can be madeand substituted for those herein shown and described, without departingfrom the spirit of our invention, the scope of which is set-forth in theappended claim. I claim: a

In a car underframe, the combination with a bolster and an end sill, ofa single centersill of I-beam cross section, the web of which is slottedso as to receive a portion of the bolster, the overlying portion of the.web of said center sill being extended and rigidly fixed directly tothe end sill, the other part of said center sill being extended throughthe web of the bolster, a removable plate applied to the bolster beneaththe lower portion of the center sill, and a pair of spaced sill members,the rear ends of which are bent inwardly and attached directly .1 .tothat portion of the web which extends through the bolster and the upperportions

